The book set develops a bridge between physiologic mechanisms and diagnostic human engineering. While the first volume is focused on the interface between physiologic mechanisms and the resultant biosignals, this second volume is devoted to the interface between biosignals and biomedical sensors. That is, in the first volume, the physiologic mechanisms determining biosignals are described from the basic cellular level up to their advanced mutual coordination level. This second volume, considers the genesis of acoustic and optic biosignals and the associated sensing technology from a strategic point of view. As a novelty, this book discusses heterogeneous biosignals within a common frame. This frame comprises both the biosignal formation path from the biosignal source at the physiological level to biosignal propagation in the body, and the biosignal sensing path from the biosignal transmission in the sensor applied on the body up to its conversion to a, usually electric, signal. Some biosignals arise in the course of the body’s vital functions while others map these functions that convey physiological data to an observer. It is highly instructive how sound and light beams interact with biological tissues, yielding acoustic and optic biosignals, respectively. Discussed phenomena teach a lot about the physics of sound and physics of light (as engineering sciences), and, on the other hand, biology and physiology (as live sciences). The highly interdisciplinary nature of biosignals and biomedical sensors is obviously a challenge. However, it is a rewarding challenge after it has been coped with in a strategic way, as offered here. The book is intended to have the presence to answer intriguing “Aha!� questions.

This authoritative volume explores advances in the techniques used to measure percutaneous penetration of drugs and chemicals to assess bioavailability and bioequivalence and discusses how they have been used in clinical and scientific investigations. Seven comprehensive sections examine topics including in vitro drug release, topical drugs products, clinical studies, and guidelines and workshop reports, among others. The book also describes how targeted transdermal drug delivery and more sophisticated mathematical modelling can aid in understanding the bioavailability of transdermal drugs. The first edition of this book was an important reference guide for researchers working to define the effectiveness and safety of drugs and chemicals that penetrated the skin. This second edition contains cutting-edge advances in the field and is a key resource to those seeking to define the bioavailability and bioequivalence of percutaneously active compounds to improve scientific and clinical investigation and regulation.

This book describes developments in the field of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy or nanoscopy. In 11 chapters, distinguished scientists and leaders in their respective fields describe different nanoscopy approaches, various labeling technologies, and concrete applications. The topics covered include the principles and applications of the most popular nanoscopy techniques STED and (f)PALM/STORM, along with advances brought about by fluorescent proteins and organic dyes optimized for fluorescence nanoscopy. Furthermore, the photophysics of fluorescent labels is addressed, specifically for improving their photoswitching capabilities. Important applications are also discussed, such as the tracking and counting of molecules to determine acting forces in cells, and quantitative cellular imaging, respectively, as well as the mapping of chemical reaction centers at the nano-scale. The 2014 Chemistry Nobel Prize® was awarded for the ground-breaking developments of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. In this book, which was co-edited by one of the prize winners, readers will find the most recent developments in this field.

This thesis describes novel approaches and implementation of high-resolution microscopy in the extreme ultraviolet light regime. Using coherent ultrafast laser-generated short wavelength radiation for illuminating samples allows imaging beyond the resolution of visible-light microscopes. Michael Zürch gives a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals and techniques involved, starting from the laser-based frequency conversion scheme and its technical implementation as well as general considerations of diffraction-based imaging at nanoscopic spatial resolution. Experiments on digital in-line holography and coherent diffraction imaging of artificial and biologic specimens are demonstrated and discussed in this book. In the field of biologic imaging, a novel award-winning cell classification scheme and its first experimental application for identifying breast cancer cells are introduced. Finally, this book presents a newly developed technique of generating structured illumination by means of so-called optical vortex beams in the extreme ultraviolet regime and proposes its general usability for super-resolution imaging.

Neural field theory has a long-standing tradition in the mathematical and computational neurosciences. Beginning almost 50 years ago with seminal work by Griffiths and culminating in the 1970ties with the models of Wilson and Cowan, Nunez and Amari, this important research area experienced a renaissance during the 1990ties by the groups of Ermentrout, Robinson, Bressloff, Wright and Haken. Since then, much progress has been made in both, the development of mathematical and numerical techniques and in physiological refinement und understanding. In contrast to large-scale neural network models described by huge connectivity matrices that are computationally expensive in numerical simulations, neural field models described by connectivity kernels allow for analytical treatment by means of methods from functional analysis. Thus, a number of rigorous results on the existence of bump and wave solutions or on inverse kernel construction problems are nowadays available. Moreover, neural fields provide an important interface for the coupling of neural activity to experimentally observable data, such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). And finally, neural fields over rather abstract feature spaces, also called dynamic fields, found successful applications in the cognitive sciences and in robotics. Up to now, research results in neural field theory have been disseminated across a number of distinct journals from mathematics, computational neuroscience, biophysics, cognitive science and others. There is no comprehensive collection of results or reviews available yet. With our proposed book Neural Field Theory, we aim at filling this gap in the market. We received consent from some of the leading scientists in the field, who are willing to write contributions for the book, among them are two of the founding-fathers of neural field theory: Shun-ichi Amari and Jack Cowan.

After an insightful introductory part on recent developments in the thermodynamics of small systems, the author presents his contribution to a long-standing problem, namely the connection between irreversibility and dissipation. He develops a method based on recent results on fluctuation theorems that is able to estimate dissipation using only information acquired in a single, sufficiently long, trajectory of a stationary nonequilibrium process. This part ends with a remarkable application of the method to the analysis of biological data, in this case, the fluctuations of a hair bundle. The third part studies the energetics of systems that undergo symmetry breaking transitions. These theoretical ideas lead to, among other things, an experimental realization of a Szilard engine using manipulated colloids. This work has the potential for important applications ranging from the analysis of biological media to the design of novel artificial nano-machines.

This textbook provides an accessible introduction to physics for undergraduate students in the life sciences, including those majoring in all branches of biology, biochemistry, and psychology and students working on pre-professional programs such as pre-medical, pre-dental, and physical therapy. The text is geared for the algebra-based physics course, often named College Physics in the United States. The order of topics studied are such that most of the problems in the text can be solved with the methods of Statics or Dynamics. That is, they require a free body diagram, the application of Newton’s Laws, and any necessary kinematics. Constructing the text with a standardized problem-solving methodology, simplifies this aspect of the course and allows students to focus on the application of physics to the study of biological systems. Along the way, students apply these techniques to find the tension in a tendon, the sedimentation rate of red blood cells in haemoglobin, the torques and forces on a bacterium employing a flagellum to propel itself through a viscous fluid, and the terminal velocity of a protein moving in a Gel Electrophoresis device. This is part one of a two-volume set; volume 2 introduces students to the conserved-quantities and applies these problem-solving techniques to topics in Thermodynamics, Electrical Circuits, Optics, and Atomic and Nuclear Physics always with continued focus on biological applications.

This book presents research into chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defense and environmental security, exploring practical implications of the research. Contributions from a diverse group of international civilian researchers present the latest work on nanotechnology problems in this area, looking at detection, protective technologies, decontamination and threats to environmental security due to bacteriophages and nanomaterials. Highlights include the potential of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to characterize the nanoscale properties of microbial pathogens, the development of bacteriophage-based therapeutics, prophylactic and diagnostic preparations and their uses in different fields, such as medicine, veterinary, agriculture, food and water safety, amongst others. Readers may also consider an inexpensive bioassay suited for assessing chemical poisoning in the environment such as the presence of pesticides, sensors to detect ultra-trace quantities of the explosive Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) using nanotubes and electrochemical sensors to simultaneously detect and reduce the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) to 2,4,6-triaminotoluene (TAT) in solution. This book shows how cooperative research among NATO countries and NATO partners can make a critical contribution to meeting the opportunities and challenges of nanotechnology problems relevant to chemical and biological defense needs. The papers presented here are representative of contributions made to the Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on September 22-26, 2014 in Antalya, Turkey, to address the NATO SPS Key Priority of Defense against CBRN Agents and Environmental Security.

Success or failure of biomaterials, whether tissue engineered constructs, joint and dental implants, vascular grafts, or heart valves, depends on molecular-level events that determine subsequent responses of cells and tissues. This book presents the latest developments and state-of-the-art knowledge regarding protein, cell, and tissue interactions with both conventional and nanophase materials. Insight into these biomaterial surface interactions will play a critical role in further developments in fields such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and biocompatibility of implanted materials and devices. With chapters written by leaders in their respective fields, this compendium will be the authoritative source of information for scientists, engineers, and medical researchers seeking not only to understand but also to control tissue-biomaterial interactions.

This book presents concise descriptions and analysis of the classical and modern models used in mathematical biophysics. The authors ask the question "what new information can be provided by the models that cannot be obtained directly from experimental data?" Actively developing fields such as regulatory mechanisms in cells and subcellular systems and electron transport and energy transport in membranes are addressed together with more classical topics such as metabolic processes, nerve conduction and heart activity, chemical kinetics, population dynamics, and photosynthesis. The main approach is to describe biological processes using different mathematical approaches necessary to reveal characteristic features and properties of simulated systems. With the emergence of powerful mathematics software packages such as MAPLE, Mathematica, Mathcad, and MatLab, these methodologies are now accessible to a wide audience.

Systems Biology represents a new paradigm aiming at a whole-organism-level understanding of biological phenomena, emphasizing interconnections and functional interrelationships rather than component parts. The study of network properties, and how they control and regulate behavior from the cellular to organism level, constitutes a main focus of Systems Biology. This book addresses from a novel perspective a major unsolved biological problem: understanding how a cell works and what goes wrong in pathology. The task undertaken by the authors is in equal parts conceptual and methodological, integrative and analytical, experimental and theoretical, qualitative and quantitative, didactic and comprehensive. Essentially, they unravel the spatio-temporal unfolding of interacting mass-energy and information networks at the cellular and organ levels, as well as its modulation through activation or repression by signaling networks to produce a certain phenotype or (patho)physiological response. Starting with the historical roots, in thirteen chapters this work explores the Systems Biology of signaling networks, cellular structures and fluxes, organ and microorganism functions. In doing so, it establishes the basis of a 21st century approach to biological complexity.

The purpose and subject of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of all types of phantoms used in medical imaging, therapy, nuclear medicine and health physics. For ionizing radiation, dosimetry with respect to issues of material composition, shape, and motion/position effects are all highlighted. For medical imaging, each type of technology will need specific materials and designs, and the physics and indications will be explored for each type. Health physics phantoms are concerned with some of the same issues such as material heterogeneity, but also unique issues such as organ-specific radiation dose from sources distributed in other organs. Readers will be able to use this book to select the appropriate phantom from a vendor at a clinic, to learn from as a student, to choose materials for custom phantom design, to design dynamic features, and as a reference for a variety of applications. Some of the information enclosed is found in other sources, divided especially along the three categories of imaging, therapy, and health physics. To our knowledge, even though professionally, many medical physicists need to bridge the three catagories described above.

The quest to understand the condensation of proteins from solutions is a rapidly evolving field. The purpose of this book is to bring to an interdisciplinary audience the state-of-the-art in current research. The first part of the book deals with issues related to the production of high quality protein crystals from solution. Since protein function is determined by structure, high quality protein crystals must be grown in order to determine their structure by X-ray crystallography. The book also discusses diseases that occur due to undesired protein condensation, an increasingly important subject. Examples include sickle cell anemia, cataracts and Alzheimer's disease. Current experimental and theoretical work on these diseases is discussed, which seeks understanding at a fundamental, molecular level, to prevent the undesired condensation from occurring. The book, containing color plate sections, is suitable for graduate students and academic researchers in physics, chemistry, structural biology, protein crystallography and medicine.

This state-of-the-art book reviews key issues and methods in medical image perception research through associated techniques, illustrations and examples. Written by key figures in the field, the book covers a range of topics including the history of medical image perception research, the basics of vision and cognition, and dedicated application areas, especially those concerned with the interface between the clinician and the display of medical image data. It summarizes many of the basic techniques used to conduct and analyze medical image perception and observer performance research, allowing readers to understand basic research techniques so they can adopt them for use in their own studies. Written for both newcomers to the field and experienced researchers, this book provides a broad overview of medical image perception, and will serve as a reference volume for years to come.

There are essentially two theories of solutions that can be considered exact: the McMillan-Mayer theory and Fluctuation Solution Theory (FST). The first is mostly limited to solutes at low concentrations, while FST has no such issue. It is an exact theory that can be applied to any stable solution regardless of the number of components and their concentrations, and the types of molecules and their sizes. Fluctuation Theory of Solutions: Applications in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Biophysics outlines the general concepts and theoretical basis of FST and provides a range of applications described by experts in chemistry, chemical engineering, and biophysics. The book, which begins with a historical perspective and an introductory chapter, includes a basic derivation for more casual readers. It is then devoted to providing new and very recent applications of FST. The first application chapters focus on simple model, binary, and ternary systems, using FST to explain their thermodynamic properties and the concept of preferential solvation. Later chapters illustrate the use of FST to develop more accurate potential functions for simulation, describe new approaches to elucidate microheterogeneities in solutions, and present an overview of solvation in new and model systems, including those under critical conditions. Expert contributors also discuss the use of FST to model solute solubility in a variety of systems. The final chapters present a series of biological applications that illustrate the use of FST to study cosolvent effects on proteins and their implications for protein folding. With the application of FST to study biological systems now well established, and given the continuing developments in computer hardware and software increasing the range of potential applications, FST provides a rigorous and useful approach for understanding a wide array of solution properties. This book outlines those approaches, and their advantages, ac

Computational modeling can provide a wealth of insight into how energy flow in proteins mediates protein function. Computational methods can also address fundamental questions related to molecular signaling and energy flow in proteins. Proteins: Energy, Heat and Signal Flow presents state-of-the-art computational strategies for studying energy redistribution, signaling, and heat transport in proteins and other molecular machines. The first of four sections of the book address the transport of energy in molecular motors, which function through a combination of chemically driven large-scale conformational changes and charge transport. Focusing on vibrational energy flow in proteins and nanostructures, the next two sections discuss approaches based on molecular dynamics simulations and harmonic analysis. By exploring the flow of free energy in proteins, the last section examines the conformational changes involved in allosteric transitions and the role of coupled protein-solvent dynamics in conformational changes. It also presents computational approaches developed to locate pathways between protein structures. The integrated presentation of this comprehensive, up-to-date volume emphasizes the interrelations between disparate computational approaches that have contributed to our understanding of energy flow in proteins and its role in protein function. By defining the forefront of research in this area, the book delineates the current challenges and opportunities in developing novel methods and applications for the evolving study of energy flow in molecular machines and nanomaterials.

Advances in Microbial Physiology, Volume 76, the latest release in this ongoing series, continues the long tradition of topical, important, cutting-edge reviews in microbiology. The updated release contains updates in the field, with comprehensive chapters covering Bacteria respiration during infection, Spironucleus vortens: functional imaging of a model aerotolerant flagellated protist, In situ Absorbance Measurements: a New Means to Study Respiratory Electron Transfer in Chemolithotrophic microorganisms, Microbubbles in microbiology, Bacterial catabolism of s-triazine herbicides: biochemistry, evolution and application, and more.

The application of methodological approaches and mathematical formalisms proper to Physics and Engineering to investigate and describe biological processes and design biological structures has led to the development of many disciplines in the context of computational biology and biotechnology. The best known applicative domain is tissue engineering and its branches. Recent domains of interest are in the field of biophysics, e.g.: multiscale mechanics of biological membranes and films and filaments; multiscale mechanics of adhesion; biomolecular motors and force generation. Modern hypotheses, models, and tools are currently emerging and resulting from the convergence of the methods and phylosophycal apporaches of the different research areas and disciplines. All these emerging approaches share the purpose of disentangling the complexity of organisms, tissues, and cells and mimiking the function of living systems. The contributions presented in this book are current research highlights of six challenging and representative applicative domains of phyisical, engineering, and computational approaches in medicine and biology, i.e tissue engineering, modelling of molecular structures, cell mechanics and cell adhesion processes, cancer physics, and physico-chemical processes of metabolic interactions. Each chapter presents a compendium or a review of the original results achieved by authors in the last years. Furthermore, the book also wants to pinpoint the questions that are still open and that could propel the future research.

In this provocative text, a noted neuroscientist reexamines Freud's posthumously published Project of Scientific Psychology in the light of modern neuroscience. This expanded "thermodynamics of the mind" model includes robust conceptions of the cellular and neural processes that accompany creation of consciousness and memory, their contributions to such conditions as depression, dissociative disorders, and schizophrenia, and implications for practice, from imaging to talk-based therapies to pharmacotherapy. Central to this construct is Freud's proposal of specific "omega" neurons as the most volatile carriers of consciousness between mind and brain, which is applied to current issues regarding complexity and executive functioning. In addition, the book is extensively referenced, allowing readers to investigate these and related phenomena in greater detail. Among the topics covered: Neural reductionism in Freud's "Project" and neuropsychoanalysis. Thermodynamics and brain self-organization. Conflicting information and the dissociated mind. The Cartesian model of the mind and the binding problem. Neuroendocrine and immune response to stress. The concept of omega neurons and modern chaos theory. Rigorous, challenging, and occasionally startling, The Brain and Conscious Unity is a milestone in the neuroscience and mind/brain literature to be read and discussed by psychiatrists, psychologists, and neuropsychologists.

Continuum Mechanics of Anisotropic Materials(CMAM) presents an entirely new and unique development of material anisotropy in the context of an appropriate selection and organization of continuum mechanics topics. These features will distinguish this continuum mechanics book from other books on this subject. Textbooks on continuum mechanics are widely employed in engineering education, however, none of them deal specifically with anisotropy in materials. For the audience of Biomedical, Chemical and Civil Engineering students, these materials will be dealt with more frequently and greater accuracy in their analysis will be desired. Continuum Mechanics of Anisotropic Materials' author has been a leader in the field of developing new approaches for the understanding of anisotropic materials.

Nuclear physics is an exciting, broadly faceted field. It spans a wide range of topics, reaching from nuclear structure physics to high-energy physics, astrophysics and medical physics (heavy ion tumor therapy). New developments are presented in this volume and the status of research is reviewed. A major focus is put on nuclear structure physics, dealing with superheavy elements and with various forms of exotic nuclei: strange nuclei, very neutron rich nuclei, nuclei of antimatter. Also quantum electrodynamics of strong fields is addressed, which is linked to the occurrence of giant nuclear systems in, e.g., U+U collisions. At high energies nuclear physics joins with elementary particle physics. Various chapters address the theory of elementary matter at high densities and temperature, in particular the quark gluon plasma which is predicted by quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to occur in high-energy heavy ion collisions. In the field of nuclear astrophysics, the properties of neutron stars and quark stars are discussed. A topic which transcends nuclear physics is discussed in two chapters: The proposed pseudo-complex extension of Einstein's General Relativity leads to the prediction that there are no black holes and that big bang cosmology has to be revised. Finally, the interdisciplinary nature of this volume is further accentuated by chapters on protein folding and on magnetoreception in birds and many other animals.

This brief is the result of the research the author has performed in recent years covering electrical fluctuations in numerous systems, including molecular electrical fluctuations, ionic fluctuations, ionic dielectric relaxation, spherical and cylindrical polyelectrolytes, ionic polarizability in polyelectrolytes, pH fluctuation in vesicles and electrical fluctuations in proteins. The importance of estimating electrical fluctuations resides in its richness of information and omnipresence in biological systems. In order to understand how these systems work it is vital to know the magnitude of their electrical fluctuations. Electromagnetic fluctuations are the origin of London (Van der Waals) forces between molecules, and Lifshitz forces between macro objects. Protonic fluctuations are the origin of Kirkwood and Shumaker forces between molecules and pH fluctuations. Furthermore, protonic fluctuations could be the cause of the dielectric increment of proteins in solution. Local electrical fluctuations can influence chemical reactions and so on. This book addresses the interplay of these pervasive phenomena. .

This book presents the application of pulsed electrical discharges in water and water dispersions of metal nanoparticles in medicine (surgery, dentistry, and oncology), biology and ecology. The intensive electrical and shock waves represent a novel technique to destroy viruses and this way to  prepare anti-virus vaccines. The method of pulsed electrical discharges in water allows to decontaminate water from almost all known bacteria and spores of fungi being present in human beings. The nanoparticles used are not genotoxic and mutagenic. This book is useful for researchers and graduate students.

Bionics means learning from the nature for the development of technology. The science of "bionics" itself is classified into several sections, from materials and structures over procedures and processes until evolution and optimization. Not all these areas, or only a few, are really known in the public and also in scientific literature. This includes the Lotus-effect, converted to the contamination-reduction of fassades and the shark-shed-effect, converted to the resistance-reduction of airplanes. However, there are hundreds of highly interesting examples that contain the transformation of principles of the nature into technology. From the large number of these examples, 250 were selected for the present book according to "prehistory", "early-history", "classic" and "modern time". Most examples are new. Every example includes a printed page in a homogeneous arrangement. The examples from the field "modern time" are joint in blocks corresponding to the sub-disciplines of bionics.

Reviewing exhaustively the current state of the art of tissue engineering strategies for regenerating bones and joints through the use of biomaterials, growth factors and stem cells, along with an investigation of the interactions between biomaterials, bone cells, growth factors and added stem cells and how together skeletal tissues can be optimised, this book serves to highlight the importance of biomaterials composition, surface topography, architectural and mechanical properties in providing support for tissue regeneration. Maximizing reader insights into the importance of the interplay of these attributes with bone cells (osteoblasts, osteocytes and osteoclasts) and cartilage cells (chondrocytes), this book also provides a detailed reference as to how key signalling pathways are activated. The contribution of growth factors to drive tissue regeneration and stem cell recruitment is discussed along with a review the potential and challenges of adult or embryonic mesenchymal stem cells to further enhance the formation of new bone and cartilage tissues. This book serves to demonstrate the interconnectedness of biomaterials, bone/cartilage cells, growth factors and stem cells in determining the regenerative process and thus the clinical outcome.